Sarna News

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The small and frozen world of Kansu was only settled in the second half of the 24th century. The icy world's flora was unique in that it stored energy as frozen methane rather than as fat. The original colonists discovered this by accident after trying to use the plants as a traditional wood fuel source. Eventually they learned not to put the plants into a high-heat environment, but only after many people had lost limbs in explosions. The colonists later refined their technique, gathering the plants via remote drone systems and using them as a renewable energy resource.[1]

During the Fourth Succession War the planet fell under control of the Federated Suns. The AFFS built a base on the continent known as "Fetid", likely for training its troops in hazardous environments as well as for defense. This isolation of the military forces left the natives of Kansu free to extract the radioactive ores from the main continent, Matawan.[1]

When the Word of Blake invaded during the last two weeks of October 3069,[30] the militia defending the world used artillery strikes to disable many of the invaders as they traveled through Kansu's forests. The high explosive rounds caused the methane stored in the trees and other plants to explode, inflicting serious losses on the Blakists. In retaliation, the Blakist fanatics detonated a nuclear weapon, apparently hoping to cow the defenders and destroy their morale. Instead the thermonuclear explosion ignited all the methane stored in the native flora for kilometers, triggering massive secondary explosions across the world. These explosions also triggered the release of methane stored in the undersea ice sheets and Kansu's polar regions. The resulting explosions created a runaway greenhouse effect that forced humans to live completely underground for more than a decade. The formerly arctic world has had its ecosphere completely disrupted, with temperatures at the equator exceeding the boiling point of water. Most of the population remains underground, with some relocating to Kansu's moon.[1]